When the Rain Comes
by christinap
Summary: An old flame of Greg’s shows up and jealousy and danger get in the way of his and Sara’s happiness. Will it ultimately be enough to ruin their relationship? Sequel to 'A Balancing Act' CH 4 UP
1. The Proverbial Sunrise

**TITLE: When the Rain Comes**

**A/N: This is the sequel to my first Sandle story, "A Balancing Act". Thanks for all the wonderful reviews of that story, and I hope ya'll enjoy this one just as much. This plot bunny actually came to me before the one from the first story did, but I just had to write the other story first.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or any of the characters…just borrowing them for a while!**

**Pairing: Sandle.**

**Rating: T**

**Synopsis: Now that Greg and Sara are finally together, will they stay that way? An old flame of Greg's shows up and jealousy and danger get in the way of his and Sara's happiness. Will it ultimately be enough to ruin their relationship?**

_

* * *

_

_Ding-dong._

Sara jumped out of her bed at the sound of the doorbell ringing. She padded to the door of her Las Vegas apartment in bare feet, boxers, and a tank top. "I was _almost_ asleep," she grumbled to herself. She'd just gotten off shift. They'd solved a case and Grissom had let them leave early. _Drunk father kills kid, covers it up._ Sara hated these cases. They took their toll on everyone, and Sara was exhausted. "Who in the heck-" she swung the door open, to be met by her grinning boyfriend, standing there, still in his DaftPunk t-shirt, leather blazer, and jeans, carrying just a blanket.

"Greg!" She leaned forward to give him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. "What are you doing here? You should be in bed. It was a hard shift." She opened the door wider to allow him in, but he stayed where he was, motioning her to come out to him.

"Are you crazy, Greg?" she asked good naturedly, smiling at him in slight puzzlement.

"Come on," he said mysteriously, "it's a surprise. You'll see." He once again motioned for her to join him.

"I'm in my pajamas and bare feet. What are you up to, anyway?" she asked, yawning wide.

"Aw, come on. No one is going to see you but me, and I think you look beautiful, Sara," he said, sweetly smiling at her.

She smiled. "Well, in _that_ case…" she began teasingly. He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her gently out the door. She pulled back, quickly slipping her feet into the pair of sandals that lay next to the door, then let herself be led out the door.

He led her through a rusty door, up the apartment service stairs.

"Where are we going, Greg?" she asked curiously.

"Well, we're going up the stairs at the moment," he replied, with a mischievous tone to his voice.

She laughed. "I know _that,_ I mean where are you taking me?"

He smiled. "You'll see."

He led her up to the roof of her apartment building. There on the roof lay a wooden crate. On the crate sat a bottle of wine, two wine glasses, and a candle, its flame flickering gently in the light breeze. "I thought," Greg said, "you and I could lay here and watch the sun come up." He was looking at her expectantly, hoping she would like it.

She turned to him and smiled. "Greg," she said, "it's perfect." She moved closer to him, leaning her body against his, putting a hand on his face. "You are the sweetest guy I could ask for. Thank you." She gently brought his face closer to hers and pulled him into a slow, sensual kiss.

As they pulled apart, he cleared his throat, almost nervously. "Wow…I just got here and it's already worth it. You," he pointed at her, "are a good kisser, Miss Sidle."

"Wish I could say the same for you," she said kiddingly. Laughing at the phony injured look on his face, she took the blanket from him and spread it out next to the crate. He sat down, knees against his chest, and she sat down in front of him, leaning back against his knees. He poured the two of them glasses of the wine and handed her one. For the next two hours, they alternated between comfortable silence and conversation, savoring the wine and holding each other, watching the sky turn from black to gray to pink to orange to yellow as the sun slowly made its way to the horizon.

The sun was finally up, just breaking over the trees, heralded unnecessarily but sweetly by the occasional song of a Western Meadowlark. Sara's head was resting back on Greg's arm, and his limb was slowly falling asleep.

"Sara?" he whispered, gently touching her on the shoulder. When she didn't answer, he leaned forward. Her eyes were closed, and her chest was rising and falling slowly and methodically. She was asleep. He smiled, gently sliding out from under her and laying her gently down on the blanket. He pulled off his jacket, covered her with it, and laid down next to her, pulling her close against his chest. She stirred unconsciously in her sleep and nestled even closer to him. He held her tightly, closing his eyes in complete contentment as he eventually drifted off to join her in sleep.

* * *

Sara cracked the egg's hard white shell, watching as the white and the yolk slid together down into the pan and began bubbling slowly. "Greg, watch that toast! The button sticks and it'll burn." 

"Whoops!" Greg popped up the slightly blackened toast. "I hope you don't mind a few carcinogens with your toast," he joked.

"That's a myth, Greg," Sara explained. "Burned toast just tastes harmful."

"It is not a myth, it is an unproven theory." Greg corrected her. "Big difference."

"Yeah, whatever, 'He-Who-Knows-Everything.' Remind me why we're having breakfast food at noon again?" She tried to flip the eggs over, but they were stuck fast to the pan. "Ooooh," she said dejectedly, "this is a mess. I'm sorry, Greg," she said as she dished the destroyed eggs onto their plates, "I'm far from a five star cook."

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm allergic to five star food anyway," he joked, trying to make her feel better.

Sara raised her eyebrows. "Are you? That's too bad, Greg, because I was thinking that maybe we could go to Renoir's for dinner tomorrow night. Nick told me I should take you there. You know I don't eat meat, but he said something about them cooking the best ribs he's ever had…"

"Well, I forgot…I'm not allergic to Renoir's, just everywhere else," he hastily corrected himself.

"Oh, is that right?" she laughed, turning and kissing him on the cheek, then looking him square in the eyes. "Have I told you I love you?"

He grinned from ear to ear. "Well, yeah, but you know, it doesn't hurt the ego to hear it again a few times. We'll go to Renoir's for dinner tomorrow then?"

"It's a date." Her cell phone began to ring from its spot on the living room coffee table. "Whoops!" Sara tossed the pan into the sink, where it landed with a loud clatter, and then she hurried into the living room to grab her phone. "Hello? I'm sorry…it was turned off…I must have turned off the house ringer too…ok…bye."

She turned to Greg with a grimace on her face. "That was Grissom. He's been trying to get a hold of both of us. A small private jet crashed with about 15 fatalities and they need all hands on the scene. He needs us now. There goes breakfast."

"Breakfast is…no great loss," Greg deadpanned, ducking as Sara threw an elbow at him that flew past his head.

* * *

**TBC**

Yes, I know it's a slow start…I promise it'll speed up next chapter when another woman comes into the picture!

Please hit the little blue button and send me a review! I would love that.


	2. Old Friends and New Jealousy

Title: When the Rain Comes

Chapter 2:

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or any of the characters…just borrowing them for a while!

Pairing: Sandle.

Rating: T

Synopsis: Now that Greg and Sara are finally together, will they stay that way? An old flame of Greg's shows up and jealousy and danger get in the way of his and Sara's happiness. Will it ultimately be enough to ruin their relationship?

* * *

Greg yawned, more out of boredom from the monotony of his current task than tiredness. He'd spent hours and hours cataloging the hundreds of pieces of evidence collected from the crash site. He was practically counting down the minutes until the end of shift, and that was something that didn't happen often, because he enjoyed his job. No, he was counting down the minutes because he was eagerly looking forward to spending time with Sara and having dinner with her.

A pair of arms entwined themselves around his back, interlocking around his chest. "Oh," he said mischievously, "has someone been missing me?" He tried to turn around to face her but she stopped him.

"God, you're so tense, Greg," Sara said, pulling her hands back and starting to massage his shoulders, "you're like a board."

He leaned back into her hands, closing his eyes. "Wow, Sara…you're so good at that. How did I not know this before? I would have been using you for your skills a long time ago!" he joked. He groaned, enjoying the pressure on his taught muscles.

Nick popped in the door and walked over to them, grinning. "So what's goin' on in here? It sounds kinda R-rated," he teased, laughing and looking over at the two of them nosily. Sara smacked him on the arm and he jumped away, still laughing.

"Whatcha need, Nick?" Greg asked, straightening up and stretching the kinks out of his muscles.

"I just came by to steal Sara for a few minutes. Need her help with something. It won't take long. Then the two of you can get back to…whatever it is you were doing," he grinned. He backed out the door, laughing as Sara advanced on him with a threatening look.

* * *

It was about ten minutes later when Greg heard the door open behind him, and he felt a pair of hands slide over to cover his eyes. "Hey, baby, did ya come back to give me some more lovin'?" he said jokingly.

"Wow…is that an offer?" The amused voice behind him was most definitely not Sara's.

"Uh-oh." He spun around quickly, face turning slightly red from embarrassment. His embarrassment quickly turned to shock as he recognized the face of the woman behind him.

"Tori!" he exclaimed in surprise, putting his hands on her shoulders and pulling her into a hug. "Jeg tror ikke at De er her!"

"Ja, er det meg. Although you were obviously expecting someone else," the tall blonde laughed.

Greg pulled back and examined her at arm's length. "You look exactly the same," he grinned. "Well, the perm's gone. And I have to say, it's most definitely an improvement," he joked.

"Yeah, well, it was so 90's," Tori laughed.

"Wow…it's been what? 8, 9 years? What are you doing here? How've you been?" Greg asked.

"Well, I'm in town for a conference on mitochondrial DNA and I heard you were working at the crime lab now, so I thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing after all these years. So…how are you? Tell me."

"Well, I'm not a DNA tech anymore. I'm a CSI now. Level 1."

Tori smiled at the evident pride in his voice. "Greg, that's so great. What an accomplishment! I'm proud of you." She leaned forward and gave him another hug. Just as they were pulling apart, the door swung open and Sara entered the room with an evidence bag for Greg.

Sara stopped and stood stock-still for a moment, startled bythe surprise and jealousy that sprang up when she saw the tall beautiful blonde hugging Greg. She mentally brushed the unwelcome emotions aside and strode forward with the evidence bag.

"Hey, Sara," Greg greeted her, "this is Tori Anders. Tori, this is Sara Sidle," he introduced them.

Sara looked down, a little upset that he hadn't introduced her as his girlfriend. _Does he even think of you as his girlfriend. _Then she chastised herself. _Of course he does. You are his girlfriend, after all. Aren't you? Stop being such a paranoid, Sara._ She reached forward shook the woman's outstretched hand firmly. "Nice to meet you, Tori." Looking from one to the other, she asked, "You two aren't related, are you? Anders, Sanders…"

Tori shook her head and laughed, responding. "No. Although that's how we met. Stanford, second year, Microbiology class. Our names were so similar of course we ended up talking, and then we found out that both of us were Norwegian, so of course we hit it off right away."

"Wow, you guys have known each other for a long time," Sara said.

Tori nodded. "I was his first girlfriend. He was 20. Can you believe it?" she said with a giggle. Sara answered with a laugh, but she felt no humor. "Girlfriend, huh?" She turned to Greg, handing him the bagged evidence. "Hey, Doc Robbins wanted me to give this to you. It's a piece of metal recovered from one of the victims during an autopsy." She turned to leave the two of them but was stopped quickly by Tori.

"You know, I'm only in town for a couple of days, so I was thinking that maybe we could have dinner tonight. The three of us. How does that sound?" Tori asked the two CSIs.

"Well, Sara and I…"

"You know what? I was just coming to tell Greg that I couldn't make dinner tonight," Sara interrupted, lying, "Nick and I are going to be working a little late finishing up with something. You two go…you probably have a lot to catch up on anyway." She turned and walked away.

Greg hurried to catch her before she left the room. He grasped her hand, pulling her back around to face him. "Sara…wait. Are you sure you don't want to come with us? Nick can find someone else to help him out." He looked concerned, and tried to read past her expressionless eyes. _Stop being an ass, Sara, and go._ But she couldn't say it. And she didn't know why she couldn't. And that scared her.

"Maybe another time, Greg. I…really have to go." She pulled her hand out of his and turned to leave, not seeing the hurt look in his eyes.

"Hey…I'll stop by your apartment tonight. I'll bring a movie. Call me when you get home, ok? We can talk." He said, and waited for her response. She nodded, then turned and left. He watched the door swing shut behind her for a moment, then turned with a sigh.

"Is everything ok?" Tori asked. "My coming here didn't cause any problems, did it?"

He shook his head. "No." But he didn't know. In fact, he really wasn't even sure what had just happened.

* * *

TBC

* * *

Please review! Thank you very much! Mwah!

Thanks to **kegel, Heather, JEWELBABY, avalon88, Sleepyhead22, SpeedRacer25, love forever, LocoGreggo, ljo, theresa, Unlikely-to-bear-it, & Mrs. Aaron McKay** for your reviews! I really really enjoyed them :-D


	3. There's Nothing Like Rain in the Morning

**Title: When the Rain Comes**

**Chapter 3: There's Nothing Like Rain in the Morning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or any of the characters…just borrowing them for a while!**

**Pairing: Sandle.**

**Rating: T**

**Synopsis: Now that Greg and Sara are finally together, will they stay that way? An old flame of Greg's shows up and jealousy and danger get in the way of his and Sara's happiness. Will it ultimately be enough to ruin their relationship?**

* * *

Sara was sitting on her couch in front of the TV, idly swirling the metal bowl around, causing the popcorn inside to tumble from side to side. She wasn't paying attention to either her actions, or the cheesy drama flick mutely playing out on the television. She was in mental overdrive, wondering what in the heck had gotten into her, and why. She was kicking herself for freaking out about an old girlfriend of Greg's that he hadn't seen in years, probably. Rational girlfriends don't do that. _Since when have you ever been rational, Sara?_ she asked herself,scoffing.

She knew she'd probably hurt Greg's feelings, and she resolved that she should make it up to him. She picked up her cell phone, dialing Greg's number, but her thumb hovered over the 'send' button. She could picture him now, with Tori at the restaurant where he had been going to take _her_ for a romantic dinner. Sharing conversation and laughter with someone else. And the doubts came rushing back, flooding her and filling her once again with uncertainty.

Everyone in her life had found some way to let her down hard just when she was starting to get comfortable. And Greg hadn't let her down yet. Her heart was telling her that he loved her and would do anything to make her happy, but her experiences were overwhelmingly telling her that she was in for a fall. She wanted to trust him. But she didn't want to sit around and wait for the inevitable, if indeed it was coming. _And why didn't he introduce me as his girlfriend?_ "Ugh!" Frustrated with herself for being unable to control her jealous thoughts, she got up from the couch, dumped the untouched popcorn into the garbage, and started the hot water going in the shower. _I'm just PMS-ing. No need to overreact about this. There is nothing going on between Greg and Tori. He loves me._

* * *

"I've swabbed the metal to find traces of any accelerant that _shouldn't _be there," Greg demonstrated to Tori, who was watching him as he went about his task. "And, I've run the swab through the GCMS to determine it's chemical components."

He picked up the sheet of paper that came out of the printer, scanning it.

"And?" she prodded, "what is it?"

He read off the chemicals that the GCMS had detected. "Benzene, toluene, hexane, xylene, and lead."

"Definitely an accelerant," she said. "But what kind?"

"Well, it's jet fuel. Definitely belongs. The fuel tanks exploded. Nothing probative. Well, at least in terms of a criminal investigation."

Tori was looking at him funny, with her head cocked sideways. Smiling. "What?" he asked self-consciously.

"I don't know…" she said. "It's just…you really like this job, don't you? You just have this confidence I've never seen in you before."

He nodded, looking down at his sample. "It's different. I just feel like I get to help people. Find truth. Be one of the good guys. It's clichéd, I know…"

She shook her head. "Not at all. You know, I really admire you for going after what you really wanted, instead of playing it safe." She looked at him intently for a few moments, then leaned forward swiftly and planted her lips on his.

* * *

Sara was walking down the hallway towards Grissom's office when she happened to glance over at one of the lab rooms. Through the glass wall, she saw Greg. But that wasn't what shocked her. She saw him in an embrace with Tori, and they were kissing. Stunned, she looked away quickly and continued down the hall, tears burning her eyes.

* * *

Greg was startled, and for a moment just sat there. Then he leaned back, gently pulling her hands away from his face.

"Tori-" he began.

"I know," she interrupted, looking down. "I'm sorry. That was stupid. I don't know what got into me. You know," she looked up at him whimsically, "I just got to thinking about how happy we were…back then. How much fun we had together."

He nodded. "I remember that too, Tori, but do remember why we broke up? We could never make it work. We were too much alike. Sure, we had a lot of fun when we were together. We had some…really happy times. But we also tore each other apart. Remember those battles we used to have?" She smiled. "It just…didn't work. And Tori…even if I thought it could work now, you know I'm with Sara. And I'm really happy."

"You really love her, don't you?" Tori said. "When you talk about her…it's like…wow. Your eyes light up."

He smiled. "She's amazing. I don't know how to describe it, really."

"So…no regrets?" She smiled up at him wistfully, putting a hand on his face and tracing his jaw line gently.

He shook his head. "No."

"Well…I should probably go back to Chicago as soon as my conference ends tomorrow. It was…really good to see you again, Greg."

"Hey," he caught her hand as she was about to leave, "don't be a stranger. Call me sometime. Ok? Let me know how things are going."

She nodded. "I'll do that."

* * *

Sara locked herself into one of the bathroom stalls for the short remainder of the rest of the shift, crying bitterly. The one relationship in her life that she had actually felt good about had come crashing down in bitter disappointment, and she felt as though she had been deeply betrayed. She'd given him her heart, and he'd crushed it. Eventually the tears dried, and the steely wall around her heart had already begun to go up again. _He's not worth it, Sara. He's just like the other cheating bastards you've dated._

Drying her cheeks, she headed out of the bathroom and signed out for her shift. As she left the building, she heard Greg call her name but kept walking. The morning was gray and cloudy and the overcast sky was spitting rain. It looked just like she felt. Sad.

"Wait, Sara!" Greg ran to catch up to her. He caught her elbow and pulled her around to face him.

"What do you want?" she asked, with no little hostility apparent in her voice.

Taken aback momentarily, he was silent for a second, then asked, "Hey, why didn't you call me last night? And I haven't seen you all shift. What's going on, Sara. Why are you avoiding me?"

"I don't know," she said bitterly, "I thought I'd let you and Tori have some quality time together."

"Sara. Tori is just a friend. There's nothing going on between us. Why would you think that there was?" he asked, confused at her angry attitude.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the part where you shoved your tongue down her throat tipped me off," she spat angrily, jerking her arm away from him and continuing on to her car. The rain began coming down a little harder now, making a gently pattering noise on the car windshields.

"You saw that?" he said, then quickly darted after her, putting himself between her and the door of her SUV. "Sara, she kissed me. I did not kiss her back. If you had been watching a split second longer, you would have seen that. I told her that nothing could happen because I was with you. She left."

"Well, it's not too late to call her and get her to come back, Greg," she said cynically, "She's so perfect for you, Greg. She's everything I'm not. She's funny, she's beautiful, she looks like a supermodel, and you have similar backgrounds. She'll only have to change one letter in her name when the two of you get married. I'm so sorry I was in the way of you and her getting back together. I'll just get out of your way now. Now move out of mine so I can go home. It's raining."

Greg was taken aback by the open hostility in her voice. He'd seen Sara mad before, but he'd never been on the receiving end of all that anger. "Sara, Tori and I broke up because we knew we could never work. And even if we could, I love you. I've been in love with you for 5 years. Please…don't do this."

She looked him intently in the eye, and for a moment he thought he saw her harsh glare soften. Until she said coldly, "Greg…move." He silently stepped aside and let her get in her car. He just stood there as she started the car and drove away. Then the skies opened and the rain poured down, soaking everything unlucky enough to be caught outdoors by its wrath. And still he stood there, feeling helplessly out of control of his own life. Feeling like she had been ripped away from him and he hadn't been able to run fast enough to catch her. Feeling as though his heart had just been torn out by the woman he loved more than life.

Tears streamed down his face, blending seamlessly with the rivulets of rain that ran down his face and splashing down to earth to rest in the puddle at his feet.

* * *

TBC

* * *

joeypacey405: Haha thanks! I will definitely add too it. About the happy ending, I'm workin on it! LOL

NothingButSarah: LOL yeah if Greg were mine...jealous would not suffice! LOL!

SleepyHead22: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy the writing style. I have a tendancy to rush things sometimes so I've been trying not to do that.

jewelbaby: Yeah...there's no way I could ever share Greg. I'd want all his sexiness for myself!

csi-sam-sanders: Yeah, no kidding. Especially one as pretty as Tori. Hope you enjoyed this chappy!

speedracer15: In relation to N/T...howd you guess? LOL. shhh...don't tell anyone!

Unlikely-to-bear-it: OMG, I love it when Greg gets all Norwegian too! I have some more of that planned.

Mrs. Aaron McKay: I'm glad you like my last story, hope you enjoy this one as much!

theresa: sorry this update took a while. enjoy!

jlo: glad you like the story. here's the update. hope you like it.

LocoGreggo: Thanks for the review! This story's taking a little longer, but I'm definitely keeping going.

loveforever: glad you enjoy the first story! i have a basic idea of how this one's going to play out but some things are still totally up in the air! lol

avalon88: here's the update! hope you like. it took awhile but the emotions took a while to get right.

jewelbaby: Here's more! Enjoy.

Heather: Don't we all wish we had a bf like Greg...so sweet!

kegel: Yeah, it had a cute beginning...and now the angst takes over! Muhaha!


	4. You Can't Always Get What You Want

**TITLE: When the Rain Comes**

Chapter 4: You Can't Always Get What You Want

A/N: This is the sequel to my first Sandle story, "A Balancing Act". Thanks for all the wonderful reviews of that story, and I hope ya'll enjoy this one just as much. This plot bunny actually came to me before the one from the first story did, but I just had to write the other story first.

**Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or any of the characters…just borrowing them for a while!**

**Pairing: Sandle.**

**Rating: T**

**Synopsis: Now that Greg and Sara are finally together, will they stay that way? An old flame of Greg's shows up and jealousy and danger get in the way of his and Sara's happiness. Will it ultimately be enough to ruin their relationship?**

--

Greg Sanders rolled over in his bed, wrapped in his sheets, to silence his alarm clock. His sleep had been fitful and restless. He lacked the will to get out of bed, but he knew that he must get up and face the day. He had to keep going, no matter what, and keep believing that the whole thing would all blow over in a day or two. He kept telling himself that. But it had already been a day or two. And nothing had changed. At work, Sara only spoke to him when she had to, and when she did, her voice was chilled and emptier of emotion than Greg though possible.

It ripped his heart out. He wanted so badly just to reach out, to grab her, anything, to ask her what the hell was wrong, but he couldn't.

He got out of bed stiffly and went over to the bathroom, picking up his toothbrush and brushing his teeth. When he finished, he rinsed and just stared hazily in the mirror at his tired, bloodshot eyes. Turning the tap back on, his filled his hands with water and splashed it over his face. Then he picked up the hand towel by the sink and dried slowly.

And he began one more day without her.

--

It was Sara's day off. She turned over restlessly in her bed, trying to doze off. But the harder she tried, the more awake she became. Finally she gave up, threw off the covers, and got out of bed. She walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, looking inside for a moment. Not seeing anything appetizing, she shut the door and stood in front of it.

All she wanted was him. Every time she saw him, she wanted to reach out and touch him. She wanted to be lost in his arms. She wanted him back so badly. But she couldn't make herself. She couldn't make herself take that first step, because she knew that when she did, he would shut her down and hurt her like she had hurt him. Although, she thought, _could that really be much worse than this pain?_ She was so tired of the pain. She rubbed her tired eyes. Then she opened the fridge and took out a beer.

--

Greg pulled up to the crime scene location. It was pretty far from Vegas, right off one of the highways, but only desert for miles in each direction. A passing motorist had caught sight of the boy by the roadway and called it in.

Greg shut off his car and climbed out, bringing his kit with him. Looking around, he spotted his supervisor and walked over to where he was standing, near the body. "Hey, Griss," he greeted, "what's going on?"

Grissom looked up, nodding a greeting. "Dead body was dumped here. It's supposed to rain tonight, so I've already photographed everything. You can help me put down evidence markers. I know it's Sara's day off, but since we need to process this crime scene as quickly as we can, I've paged her to come and help." He looked up at a pair of approaching headlights. "That must be her now."

_Great, _Greg thought. They hadn't worked a crime scene together since…well, since that day in the rain. He approached her car slowly, wanting to make sure that they were going to be fine working together. He watched as she got out of her car slowly, stumbling as she did so. She spotted him waiting to talk to her and walked over to him. "Hey, Greg," she said. He could tell instantly that she'd been drinking, not only by the odor of alcohol, but by the way she was slurring her words. "Did you come out here to…to break my heart again? Huh?"

"Sara, you've been drinking," he said tersely, taking her arm and leading her away from the scene.

"I just…had a few beers. Can't remember how many," she said, pulling futilely at the grip he had on her arm.

Greg reached into her pocket and grabbed her keys. "You're lucky you didn't get in a wreck on the way here," he said roughly, not wanting to think about that. He motioned one of the cops at the perimeter to come over. "Hey," he said to the cop, "could you take her home for me? She's too…sick to drive herself home." With a knowing nod, the police officer led Sara over to his patrol car, putting her in the back seat. Greg quickly wrote Sara's address down and handed it to the officer. "Thanks a lot, man."

"Anytime."

Greg watched for a moment as the patrol car drove away, and then he pocketed her keys and went back to the crime scene, shaking his head. _It's just one thing after another. _But this wasn't the time or place to try to figure out what the heck was going on in his life. He had a crime scene to process, and not much time to do it.

Grissom glanced up as Greg approached. "Where's Sara?" he asked.

"She was really sick," Greg lied, "too sick to do the scene, so I had one of the cops take her home. Looks like it's just you and me."

"Well, let's get started then."

--

Grissom and Greg had collected all of the evidence and the body of the young woman was on its way to the crime lab. The sky had just begun lightly spitting and the two CSIs were sweeping the surrounding area with flashlights. "You know, Greg," Grissom said slowly, "I've noticed a certain… acerbity between you and Sara recently. This is something that's going to affect the two of you working together, is it?"

Greg shook his head. "No, you don't have anything to worry about, Grissom." He tried to give his boss a false smile, but it just didn't come. "At least, I hope not," he added under his breath.

"Good." After a few moments of silence, Grissom spoke again. "Greg, come over here and look at this." Greg walked over to the spot the Grissom was indicating, shining his flashlight on the ground. "Tell me what you make of this."

"Well," Greg started, looking at the indentations in the sand, "it kinda looks like two objects were dragged." He continued walking beside the indentations, which led his further from the scene. "They continue on at relatively consistent intervals…pretty far…" he said, shining his light further in the distance, revealing more of the same indentations. "As for what made them, I don't know…maybe….uhh…"

"Feet." Grissom finished for him. I think whoever dragged the body here was literally dragging his feet as he walked. Good job, Greg." He leaned down and photographed the tracks.

"Uh, thanks…" Greg said. _Why didn't I think of that? _

The two CSIs continued following the tracks for a couple hundred yards when Grissom spotted something. Kneeling down, he quickly took a photograph of it and then lifted it from the sand with his forceps. Squinting, he examined it closely. "Looks like some kind of…glue cement. Bag it, Greg." He turned around to hand the evidence to Greg, but he was gone.

--

Greg continued following the footprints, not noticing when Grissom, who was walking behind him, stopped to examine something.

He continued on for maybe another few hundred yards when he noticed something large just in front of the tree line. An older model Ford Bronco. He snapped a picture with his camera. "Grissom, look!" He looked behind him, but Grissom wasn't there. Greg walked closer to the car, noticing that the rear door was open. He came closer, shining his light in the driver's window. What he saw shocked him. "Grissom!" he shouted, running the rest of the way towards the SUV. He flung the driver's door open and felt the pulse of the man slumped over at the wheel. He breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the beat beneath his fingers. Greg quickly scanned the man and didn't notice any injuries. The man was broad shouldered, husky and strong looking. It appeared that he was just passed out.

"Grissom!" he called again, but receiving no answer, he impatiently pulled out his cell phone. Before he could dial, it was sent spinning out of his hands. He looked up in surprise to see the man awake and staring at him with a fierce intensity. Greg's knees suddenly seemed weak, and he could barely keep himself up. He looked down and was stunned to see blood staining his jacket. Then the pain hit so strongly that he was nauseated, and it was too much. The world started spinning, faster and faster, until it faded completely.

The man stood up shakily and caught Greg as he was falling, lifting him up with a little difficulty and putting him in the back of the Bronco. He threw the bloody knife in next to Greg and slammed the rear door shut. Then he got back in the Bronco, started the engine, and drove away.

--

TBC!

Please review! Thanks. Haha angstiness here we come. Poor Greggo.

Chibigirl: Yes, Sara is being rather unfair. Be she does have a reason, and we're getting to that.

Csi-sam-sanders: Thanks, glad you liked it…hope you like this one as well!

SleepyHead: Yes, these Sandles were a match made in heaven…nothing can keep them apart!

Kegel: Yeah, I agree Sara was a little harsh, but she has a lot of relationship insecurities. Glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Jewelbaby: I like Nicky so much more now that I've written about him. He'll work his way into this one too!

Jayme Beth: Thank you for the review! Ha ha I doubt I could keep Sara and Greg apart for long…

Juliette: LOL, I can't give away any details…because I haven't made them up yet! Glad you're liking the story. Thanks for the review!

Pistonsgirl: YES! Greg angst! Here it is. You know I couldn't go for long without it! LOL.

ObsessedTWfan: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like the story! BTW, you aren't a Third Watch fan by any chance are you? I love that show! I was so pissed when it got cancelled.

LocoGreggo: I've actually been a lot slower updating my stories now that summer vacation! When college is back in session I get faster. Must be because I try to procrastinate from doing my homework! LOL.


	5. Just Maintain Consciousness

Title: When the Rain Comes

Chapter: Just Maintain Consciousness

Author: Chrissy0

Pairing: Sandle

Chapter warning: Depiction of suicide

* * *

Grissom heard Greg's frantic shout, and perceiving the urgency in his tone, ran towards it, kit in hand and camera bouncing heavily around his neck. "Greg? Where are you? What's wrong?" he shouted into the night air. As he approached the scene, he heard a car door slamming and an engine gun loudly. He quickly pinpointed the vehicle when he spotted the SUV's taillights shining closely in the dark as it drove away. Grissom quickly shone his flashlight around the clear area, looking for Greg, but he was nowhere to be seen. 

Greg was gone.

Thinking as quickly as one could under the circumstances, Grissom hastily snapped several pictures of the rear of the vehicle as it drove away through the desert brush. "Greg!" he called out once more, scanning the surrounding desert with his flashlight, just to be sure that Greg was indeed gone. Grissom's heart was thumping quickly, partly from the exertion of running, but also partly from fear for the fate of his young subordinate. Convinced by now that Greg was indeed gone, he flipped open his cell phone and dialed quickly. "Brass, I have bad news...I believe Greg Sanders has just now been kidnapped. No, I'll tell you more later. My evidence is about to wash away," he said, watching as the dark threatening thunderhead clouds covered the moon, which, for a scant moment, shone in bright contrast to the dark night sky.

Grissom snapped the phone shut and picked up his camera, quickly laying down yellow evidence markers and taking photos of the tire treads indented in the dirt. Shining his flashlight around, he noticed a small dark patch of sand, stained with what he hoped would not turn out to be blood. Pulling a swab out of his kit, he took a sample. The light rain was slowly beginning to come down harder, but he continued to sweep the area with his flashlight, hoping to discover some small bit of evidence, that, more closely examined, would hopefully later serve as a clue. He noticed in the sand a larger chunk of the white cement-like substance that he had collected earlier.

He gathered it, and as he did, the clouds broke and the rain began to come down in earnest, steadily soaking through his clothing until he was all but drenched. Fearing for the evidence he had already collected, he put his camera in his kit and closed it to prevent it from being soaked and ruined. He ran back towards the original scene, almost colliding with Brass, who had come running.

"Did you find anything?" Brass shouted over the thundering of the rain.

"Yes!" Grissom shouted back, hardly able to hear himself, as water poured down his head, face, and body in clear rivulets. "I may have a few leads, but I need to get it back to the lab as soon as possible to process this," he said, indicating his evidence collection kit. He turned but Brass grabbed his arm. "What?"

"Are you going to be able to get anything else from these crime scenes?" Brass asked.

"I don't know, Brass," Grissom said, shaking his head. "Keep a couple of your men here and I'll send Nick and Catherine out as soon as possible."

"You got it," Brass said, releasing Grissom's arm and sending him on towards the SUV. "I hope you find something, Gil."

"Me too, Jim."

Grissom climbed into his SUV, sitting there for a moment, as his soaked clothing saturated the seat, regrouping his thoughts for a second. Then he started the engine and headed towards the lab with his evidence kit on the seat beside him.

* * *

Greg came back to consciousness with a painful slowness. Every part of his body felt as if it were on fire, and the agony of it was nauseating. He groaned quietly, in pain and confused. It took him a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. His vision cleared somewhat, but spots were still dancing in his eyes, and all that surrounded him was darkness. 

As he slowly became a little more alert, he realized that he was moving. Slowly and painfully he reached upward in the darkness, and his hands immediately came in contact with something soft. Fabric. He pushed aside the blanket that was covering him, wincing as the light flooded his eyes, temporarily rendering his as good as blind. Once again, his eyes adjusted slowly to the change in light, and he saw that he was in the back of a vehicle. He tried to lift himself up from his supine position on the floor of the vehicle, but then his head began spinning and the pain became too much, and he quickly gave up.

Greg looked down at his shirt, and saw a good deal of dried blood there, but there was also fresh blood on the shirt. He had no idea how long he'd been out of consciousness, but it must've been quite a while. He slowly unbuttoned his shirt to check out how bad the wound was, shuddering as he saw the knife puncture in his abdomen, for the most part surrounded by dried blood, but still slowly dripping fresh blood. Thankfully, though, the knife had appeared to miss any vital organs. _Otherwise I wouldn't even be alive right now._

Then Greg heard a strange sound coming from the front of the SUV. It was frightening and sad all at the same time. It was a mumbling that sounded tortured and tormented, punctuated by an occasional moan. Greg stilled his movement, hoping that the man who was driving, his kidnapper, had not heard his shifting around in the back.

One moment they were moving, and the next, the vehicle was slamming to a stop so suddenly that Greg was propelled into the back of the seat in front of him. The sudden pain was so intense that he almost passed out. His vision grew dark and his ears were ringing loudly, and, nauseated from the viscous pain, he retched, vomiting up whatever was in his stomach along with bile and blood. Tears squeezed out of his closed eyes from the stinging pain. He could tell that his wound had opened once again, because he could once again feel the blood flowing freely down his side.

He was trying to comprehend exactly what was going on when suddenly he heard the vehicle's glove box click open, and then shut again. Greg desperately tried to keep still to keep the man's attention away from him. Then he heard the distinct sound of a gun being cocked, and his blood ran cold from the fear that pervaded him. _I'm going to die. _He braced himself for the sound of the rear door opening and the sight of his attacker, brandishing a weapon.

But it never came. The mumbling only grew louder and more anguished, more tortured. And then a gunshot rang out. Greg flinched at the sudden sharp noise that reverberated quickly around the small SUV's interior. Ever so slowly and painfully, Greg inched himself upward and carefully peered over the back of the seat. The man who'd kidnapped him was slumped over the wheel of the Bronco, a gun in his hand and a bullet through his head. Blood spatter on the car windows slowly dripped downward. Greg looked around, and all he could see through the SUV windows was golden sand. Desert and more desert It stretched out its vast expanse, as though it would never end.

Growing dizzy from the ever-increasing loss of blood, Greg slowly let himself back down. He bunched up a corner of the dirty blanket that he'd been covered with and pressed it tightly against his open wound, drawing breath in between closed teeth and hissing from the pain of the pressure on his wound. His mind was slipping away, worn from pain and fatigue. His thoughts were incoherent and jumbling as if they were being tossed around in a clothes dryer, but one coherent thought managed to surface before he slipped into the infinite blackness of unconsiouness..._They'll find me._

* * *

I'm sorry this update has been so long in coming! I promise I will try to never do that again. R & R! 


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